Pet Sounds

I forgot to mention in my last post that a few days ago, (being in res means I have no sense of time at all), I did a scavvy hunt in the city with some o-week homies! It was really fun, we got to see a whole bunch of interesting spots downtown. I wish I'd kept the list of things we had to get, but some of the highlights were making a human pyramid on a moving train, seeing the Shrine of Memorial, watching C and S get at it in a burger-eating competition, and seeing some team members dive into a public fountain in front of the art gallery. It was a cool way to see the city, and I'm hoping to go downtown some time next week, since I only have 3 days of school a week, and one of those days ends at 1pm.
Also I've applied for several jobs, cleaning, tutoring, and advertising, only two have contacted me back and they don't look very hopeful, although they would both be cool jobs, and the one that I have an interview with is to be a cleaning lady for the building down the road. Ugh gross. But you do what you do and I need moneys for Thailand, and I'm telling myself that it builds character.
In other news, this weekend will be so fun! M is coming down from Sydney to visit, and we have a whole weekend of fun shit planned, including dinner and a play, and the red bull air plane races, or whatever that competition thingy is. Either way it will be so nice to see a friendly face and spend some time away from res. Then the weekend after next W, E and I are going up to Sydney. Bondi, mama's comin back!!!!

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Today I went to the Healesville Sanctuary. It's very cool and only has native Australian animals, and it's partly an animal hospital which is very nice. It was supposed to be $65 but my girl W found an awesome deal for $25, so we bought those tickets. It was nice to spend the day actually doing something, I was going stir crazy in res every day. My favourite part about the sanctuary was definitely the koala's, they are so cute and cuddly looking, although apparently vicious when up close and personal. It was so funny to watch them all dopey from eating the eucalyptus, wake up, scratch themselves, then curl right up into a lazy ball.
Tomorrow I'm going to try wakeboarding for the first time, since I joined the wake boarding and waterskiing club on campus. It should be fun and was only $15 for the first time! I'm pretty happy that I'll finally be in water tomorrow, god I missed it so much! Even though I'm sure it won't be anything like the beaches in Sydney or Byron, it will be better than being dry thats for sure.
I'm also very sad that my tan has faded, it's because there's been no bloody sunshine here. Well when there has been I've been bundled up in my brand new Monash U sweater because it's so c-c-c-cold up in Melbs.
Last night was also pretty fun, W, A and I went to Luna Park in St. Kilda, and went on the rides and roller coasters, which was a total blast and way better than going to the local bar, The Nott (which is also fun but slightly lame with over priced drinks and too many jaffies). Jaffies by the by, stands for Just Another Fucking Freshman .. haha! High-larious.
Enjoy pictures of my life, since I have no pictures of my outfits lately.

Calamity Song

Dirty Mac. I miss my biddies hard <3

Help, I'm Alive

Oops I went shopping today at the DFO Moorabbin. Lipstik camel wedges, suede ($62). I just had too, I couldn't not. And I also got a cute dress, the corner of which you can see in the photo ($20 Dottie).
I need to find a job here, asap.

Salmonella Dub

So I have officially moved into residence, been here for almost a week. I took the train from M's place in Sydney, to Melbourne. My parents friends S&M picked me up at the train station and took me to breakfast, then to my dorm room and helped me settle in, they were so kind, I couldn't have done it without them. It was kind of tricky trying to find the Halls of Residence, the campus has a pretty weird layout. So I got in, semi-unpacked my stuff and got really nervous because I didn't know anyone and I didn't know where anything was and I was sooo hungry and didn't know where the caf or grocery store was. So all day I was pretty lonely, and essentially begged my parents to call me, but they couldn't because they were in Mexico, so I got extra lonely and felt like crap. But I found a grocery store that night and got some food and unpacked a little bit more, and also began to meet some other exchange students who had moved in already.
The next day, Valentine's Day, M came over and it was great because we hadn't seen each other for a year. We went out for lunch to this chicken place, and got salads and a giant box of chips, then we did groceries, which was lovely because M had her brothers car so I got a bunch of cans and heavy shit and didn't have to walk home with it all.
I spent the next few days going to orientation meetings, getting my student ID, health card and doctor stuff all sorted out (oh yah, I have tonsilitis AGAIN).
I also went with the exchange students to the Queen Victoria Markets .. well I got to the busses with everyone, but forgot something do I dragged W off and we had to find our way there all by ourselves, which was actually kind of fun because we were all on our own and kind of forced to learn how to use the transport system to get somewhere. The market was very cool, sort of like a Byward market on steroids and under a roof, and I got Greek food and ate lamb for the first time (not a huge fan I must admit). The stalls were pretty cool, and W and I bought these cool cotton singlets with prints on the front, mine is of a girl smoking a cigarette, and hers is a drawing of a giant owl.
Last night we all went out to the Not, a hotel pub, and it was pretty good fun, but M and I drank far too much of the $3 wine we found at the bottle shop, and ended up stumbling our drunk asses home waaay too late, playing with snails in the garden, eating 2 bags of chips, making a gigantic mess, and spending all day today hungover and sick as hell. I could not get out of bed until 3pm this afternoon, it was pathetic, I'd wake up, stay for half an hour, then need to go back to bed. I got nothing accomplished.
Tonight everyone is going to the Red Scooter, and I swear I bought my ticket for $25 a few days ago, but they didn't actually hand me the ticket itself. So I'm screwed, and staying in. Ugh. Oh well, probably better for my liver this way, well actually, probably not, since last time I stayed in to "take it easy" I ended up playing drinking games with the Aussies and losing the King's Cup 3 times in a row (a full cup with pours of everyone at the table's drink, think whiskey, beer, cider, wine, goon, vodka and rum). It is just vile and somehow I lost 3 times and had to drink it. Which is extra funny because I'm also on penicillin. Yumm.
So tonight will probably be like that but I refuse to drink such a stupid amount, especially since M and I are going to a factory outlet store tomorrow and blowing some serious cash (okay visa) because I am in desperate need of some outfits.
In other news, Sailor M (different than Girl M) is coming to visit me in a couple weekends. He's been at sea for a while but he gets a weekend off and is going to come visit, will be so nice to have a friendly face. And then after that I'm going to bring my new friend W up to Sydney with me (god I almost said bring W home with me), that's how fondly I think of Sydney now, especially after being in Melbourne. It's funny because there is this huge rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, and as much as I do love Melbourne simply because I love this uni, my res and all my new friends, I can't help but think of Sydney as the first and last place I want to be while in Aus. I miss the incredibly stylish and fashionable people walking the streets at all hours of the day, the constant sunshine, the overpriced everything, the beautiful little houses covered with wrought iron that looks like lace while driving out of the city, and most of all I miss Bondi Beach. Sweet zombie Jesus that beach was just awesome. Anyways, needless to say I think Sydney is more my scene, and Melbourne just seems like a big, rainy Toronto with crappy beaches.
It also doesn't help that I haven't had a chance to get to know the city, because it takes over an hour, and multiple busses, trains and trams to actually get from uni into the city, so I can't really just head off and explore whenever I like. But I really do love this campus, as confusing as it is, mostly because residence life is really fun, and the people I have met so far have been really cool and interesting. I can't wait for Sunday, when everyone starts moving into residence and we start meeting everyone! Should be cool.

Free Falling

So after hours and hours on a greyhound, then being kicked off the greyhound, and having to get on a different one, I finally arrived in Cairns. I checked in at the Nomads Esplanade, which was without a doubt the worst hostel I have ever stayed at, with a total jerk at reception who ended up screwing me over just a couple times on this trip. The next day I went swimming in the Lagoon which was nice but I was seriously missing the beach, and then went back to the hostel where we were told we were being evacuated to the Nomads Serpent a little further inland. So we had to pack a small bag (I had a purse) and leave everything else in our rooms under the beds in preparation for the windows the break during the cyclone. So we reluctantly left our things, went to Serpents, and in the middle of the night were woken up and evacuated again, to the Stockland mall, where we stayed for almost 2 days. The cyclone changed course at the very last minute thank god, so we weren't hit as hard as we were supposed to be. Which is good because realistically, our evac centre was insufficient for the huge amount of people who were crammed in like sardines. But we all lived (well one person in Cairns died) and a baby was born during Cyclone Yasi. I was pretty calm and bored and mostly just slept and ate the whole time, but only really panicked when I was talking to my parents because I got kind of homesick for Canada, where being snowed in is the only time you'd have to eat cans of beans and be trapped in a space for over 24 hours.
So we escaped Airlie in order to be hit again by a bigger cyclone, the biggest one Australia has ever seen in fact, in Cairns. Lovely.
Then we ended up finally getting our backpacks back after dealing with the asshole receptionist, and moving to stay at Nomads serpents which was a great hostel, with great people. While there we did a pub crawl which was insane, and drank a whole lot, but didn't do much during the days.
As for our cruise and working thing, it didn't happen, the ships were still staying in so we were transferred to a different cruise, same price, for 2 days and no option to work and live on board, which was shitty but the cruise was great. Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef was incredible, staying up all night with the crew, being scared shitless by buddies outside our window, waking up 3 hours later at 5am to do the morning snorkel, breaking into an office to steal a duckie which then committed suicide on the sundeck .. all amazing fun. The food on board was nice too, and the best part of the trip was when I saw a giant sea turtle, and decided to swim on top of it, and I followed it for about 15 minutes, holding onto it's shell and scratching it, which they love. This thing was so big, a couple feet long at least, and soooo peaceful, I was in such a trance, felt like I was all alone in the middle of the ocean, swimming with a giant turtle towards a new life. Fuck it was such a trip. I'm almost glad that my camera died and I couldn't take a picture, because it allowed me to concentrate entirely on this gentle giant and focus so intensely on the moment, that it's been vivdly burned into my mind forever I know.
God it was cool. I also swam like a foot away from a big reef shark, and then saw a huuuuge shark again later. And some Nemo fish! And ginormous clams!! And I kissed a pineapple sea cucumber, but only because J dove all the way down to bring it up for me to see. Lovely times.
After that we stayed in Cairns another couple of nights then booked a flight back to Sydney.

Beach Time

So after leaving Byron Bay, which was beaches beaches beaches, I moved onto Hervey Bay where I stayed for one night before I went to Fraser Island for 3 days of camping, and 4wd-ing along sand dunes in the biggest sand island in the world. Fraser was quite possibly my favourite place in Australia, simply gorgeous and camping is always so much fun. We saw amazing lakes all day, had fun breaking our trucks and waiting for dingoes to come attack us, and played some awesome drinking games with our goon every night. One night we took a walk down to the beach, and in the pitch black, without torches or cell phone lights shining, the sand sparkled when we rubbed our heels against it due to the phosphorous, it's such an amazing sight to see. The crew in our truck/tent was also amazing, we all had such a good time together, and even breaking down was fun.
After leaving Fraser Island, I travelled up to Noosa, stayed for a few days in our biggest dorm yet, a 16-share, which was very fun because the people we stayed with became family, and we spent our days at the beach, and our nights drinking in our dorm and taking walks (more like hikes) to the beach to smoke, eat ice cream, play in the waves and just enjoy owning the whole sky at night. The stars in Noosa were insane, the sky felt so huge and we felt infinite, standing in the water, in the pitch black, staring at the stars surrounding us. God it was beautiful.
After Noosa I travelled up to Airlie Beach (all this travelling North is done by bus by the way, now, a 14 hour train or bus ride, in a small upright seat with noisy neighbours doesn't even phase me .. it's the 16 hour ones that kill). In Airlie Beach there wasn't much to do, from there, and every city further North on the East Coast had beaches that we couldn't swim at due to jellyfish or something. Anyways Airlie Beach consisted of waiting to hear if I could go on my Whistunday's sailing trip, which after 3 days was finally cancelled, so then I decided to leave and go right up to Cairns and try and do my cruise/work-a-board trip. The night we were tying to leave was the night a cyclone hit, and we were told by the police that no busses were running (which was a lie), so we had to go back to a hostel, where we lost all power and it was disgustingly hot and humid and cramped and just gross and no fun. The next morning at 5am, after a breakfast beer, I made a run for the Greyhound and finally arrived in Cairns!

Dingoes, vodka cran and British boys

So today is my last day in Airlie Beach, 8pm tonight L and I greyhound ANOTHER 12 hours(a relatively short ride for us now) up north to Cairns. But I'll start at the beginning.
After leaving love and our amazing new friends (specifically M, P and J, our lovely roomies) in Byron Bay, L and I travelled up to Noosa where we spent two nights in a huge 16 share mixed dorm, Noosa itself was alright, we arrived in the morning, got dropped off the greyhound, strapped on our huge backpacks and hiked 15 minutes up the biggest hill known to man, to get to our hostel. While we were there we met our roommates, and just fell in love with our British boys (S included because she took it like a champ) A, A and C. They were just hilarious, now there isn't much to do in Noosa, especially after the hostel bar closes at half midnight, so we ended up walking to the beach in the middle of the night, smoking and drinking and having a ball, just acting like we owned the town. We splashed around in the water a bit and pretended we were being attacked by sharks, it was such a laugh.
After we left Noosa, L and I went to Hervey Bay to spend one night prepping for our Fraser Island camping trip. Hervey was lame and everything was crazy expensive and there was just nothing to do. So we met our Fraser Island team, figured out who'd be driving the huge 4wd trucks, and did some groceries.
The next morning we left for Fraser at 7am! So early for our lazy asses. Fraser was just incredible, I'll have to upload photos of it later but they don't do it any justice. We drove around like madmen on beaches and through huge sand dune trails (literally) almost killing ourselves a few times (and that's no joke, this shit was dangerous, I won't be suprised if these tours stop running quiiiite soon due to the amount of casualties caused by them). Day one we walked about 20 minutes through this crazy forest growing on a sand island (weird but amazing) and saw Lake Mackenzie. Now Lake Mackenzie has got to be hands down THE most incredible sight I have ever seen. Crystal clear water, warm, freshwater, bright blue, powder fine white sand. Amazing. If I die on this continent I want my ashes scattered along Lake Mackenzie. After that we did a 40 minute uphill hike through burning hot sand dunes (in bikinis and flip flops) to see Lake Wabby, another beautiful lake that was warm and wonderful, then the hike back (I don't know how) was ANOTHER 40 minutes ... UPHILL again!!! Worth it though.
The rest of Frazer Island was also gorgeous and scenic and amazing, such as the huge T.S. Maheno ship wreck that we got to see, and a few other lakes such as this one lake that was full of tea tree oil (made my hair so soft). The evenings were full of dingoes, walks along the beach to see the stars, excessive drinking with the locals and playing Never Have I Ever and Fucked By The Bus.
Our team of 7 (The Eh Team) became family to us, as have our many groups of roommates, and we miss them tons, our British boys on this trip, T and J became brothers to us and we were inseparable, then today the most amazing thing happened (in Airlie) T and J, and A, A and C all showed up in Airlie at our hostel. We were ecstatic, missed those hilarious bastards like crazy, especially in this boring town.
The point of being in Airlie beach was to do a sailing tour among the Whitsunday's, but there are huge cyclones so we had the trip cancelled and are leaving for Cairns tonight. So that's the story of Airlie Beach, lame as hell, but awesome in our last few hours due to our British boys amalgamating and showing up here. Oh god we love them, all we do is howl with laughter, they are just so hilarious and all so sweet.
Also, a word to everyone at home, I have been fb hacked :( So I can't go on, and sadly I am ashamed to say how much I miss it and how much it sucks to not be able to upload all my photos and stuff. So to anyone who might be reading this, I have tons of pictures that I want to show you to make you jealous, and I miss you all.
As for emotionally, I'm doing pretty well, actually very well since a certain ex-boyfriend decided to go batshit crazy on me, all it made me do is feel sorry for him and for how embarassed he must be, and I just see him for the pathetic loser peice of shit child that he is ... It sucks that I wasted 8 months on him, but I guess you don't really know someone until you break up with them. I'm pretty proud of my reactions though, although I can't say I have been the nicest, the worst thing I have done in reaction is write on my blog, just now, that he's an idiot. I'm pretty proud of myself :) And the boys in this country are way cuter, smarter, nicer anf funnier anyways so I have no complaints :)
One last thing ... Thailand this summer :)

Wonderwall

So today is our official first whole day in Byron Bay, NSW. Yesterday L and I got off the 14 hour train ride, 2 hour bus ride and arrived in BB at 5am, we then waited until 7:30 to get into our rooms and thank god they were free so we hopped into our 10 person communal bunk bed rooms and tried to sleep. Then we woke up, spent the day at the beach and then bought 4.4 liters of Goon for $11 and found some Canadian boys to drink with. Everyone here is very nice but it has been surprisingly difficult to make friends, mostly because there are some big language barriers, but also people kind of say hi then go about their own ways, but our new Canadian crew is awesome and very fun, we are definitely the loudest and drunkest in the hostel and made quite a scene last night, playing Slap the Goon and singing a song about it. Was such a riot though.
Other than that, the community feel of Byron is really amazing, there is a big communal kitchen with a communal shelf and fridge, and we just leave all our food there and label it and no one touches anyone elses stuff, everyone cleans up after themselves, there are no assholes leaving huge messes and it's just so nice that everyone respects each other. Good karma for sure. Other than that Byron is totally filled with hippies, it's hilarious to see, and there are alot of new-age alternative type people, who are also cool but I can't quite figure out if they are just part of this neo-beat generation or if they are being ironic in thongs. Whatevs. That's another thing though, no one wears thongs! Everyone walks around bare foot everywhere, on the streets, in shops, in Wooly's (our resident grocery store). So very weird but I have embraced it and am taking it slow, walking barefoot to and from the beach (which is a 5 minute walk from our hostel). The beach in Byron isn't nearly as beautiful as Bondi Beach in Sydney, which may be my favourite spot in the whole world, and the waves are really intense and the water is angry, it seriously beats you up and throws you around, reminds us who's boss around here I guess.
I miss my family lots, I have already created a little fort in my bottom bunk by hanging pashminas all around so it's private, and I have sticky-tacked some photos up on the wall already. I miss my friends too, but mostly I just wish they were with me because the type of partying here is RIGHT up everyone's alley, it's very cool.
I don't know if I'll be down to go out tonight though, I'm kind of hungover from the goon last night and also am spending about a grande on the next 2.5 weeks of my trip (oh yeah there's a story there!) so I don't feel like paying cover and buying drinks all night. And another thing, when I got here, I bought a pack of ciggies, in Sydney I mean, and smoked one, then I got sick, and since then I am disgusted by the thought of smoking, the smell of it makes me nauseous when I walk by and just knowing that I have that pack in my bag makes me want to gag. It is the weirdest thing, a New Years resolution that I didn't even plan on. I won't throw them out because they cost $20, but maybe I'll find a smoker and sell them for a tenner or something. It's so weird, I usually love smoking, I don't smoke too often, even when I was at home, but while drinking you just have too, that and it looks cool (which I still stick by even though I want nothing to do with it.) But I have always been pro-smoker, like yes it's disgusting and unhealthy but so is the rest of the world. I don't know, I guess I just am off it, maybe this will be forever! Which is so funny because I totally thought before I left that, once I was living alone, and not having to worry about not smoking on my parents property, and not smelling like cigs around my fam and friends, that I would smoke all the time, but it has totally been the opposite. Oh well I'm not complaining!
So, my big adventure, I'll have to write more details later, but essentially L and I hustled the travel planner guy, and are going to Noosa beach for a few nights, then doing a 3 day long camping trip on Fraser Island, then a few nights at Airlie Beach, then a 2 day sailing trip around the Whitsunday's, and then a night at a hostel on a beach (forget the name). Then a 2 day snorkeling cruise in the Great Barrier Reef, after that two days, L and I start working on the ship as housekeeping, so we stay and eat for free and do 3 hours of cleaning during the day, this is garunteed to us for 3 days and then if they like us they'll keep us. I am so excited for that, living on a boat, sailing the most beautiful waters in the world! Ugh it will be awesome, as much as I love Byron I am sooooo excited to get to that damn boat. And the camping part of this trip will also be amazing.
I guess I have got my enthusiasm back :)
Love and miss you all who are reading this <3

When the Levee Breaks

So I made it to Australia in one piece (sort of). After arriving in Sydney and making it to our hotel in Kings Cross, I got sick. Like, very sick. A raging case of tonsillitis that kept me in the hospital for 3 days. And it sucked. It sucks to throw up alone, gagging and choking on your own stomach acid without even someone there to hold your hair, or tell you to go back to bed, or even just be sympathetic with you. It really sucks, and then being in the hospital was also terrible, I was lonely and surrounded by gross, weird, sick people, the food was absolutely vile and the only nice thing I have to say is that I had a sexy man servant of a nurse who snuck me a sandwich, and gave me morphine which was also lovely. But yeah, that was my first time every staying in a hospital overnight, alone, with tubes and needles stuck in me and that stupid annoying IV that dragged behind me every time I got up to go to the bathroom. I even got stuck on it in the middle of the night when I tried to change my shirt and it must have taken me like 15 minutes of crying to untangle my old shirt, new shirt, and bra with the tubes and everything. So annoying.
So my parents friends L&G have kindly taken in L and I, to stay here for a few nights, but they live very far from the city and it's inconvenient and we don't want to overstay our welcomes so we are leaving tomorrow for a hotel with a/c that I can recuperate at.
But I still feel like absolute shit, I have absolutely no energy, I think 3 days of severe dehydration and bed-rest zapped me of everything I had, and the penicillin tablets they have given me make my mouth taste like I'm chewing on salt, it is absolutely disgusting and makes me so thirsty I can't stand it. So as much as I'm trying to be perky and optimistic I'm kind of still having a miserable time and I am wondering why I just spent my life savings flying to the other side of the world when all I have seen so far are some emergency rooms and one beach. It's not that I'm even homesick or desperately missing anyone, I mean I am but not to the point that I want to go home. I just feel like maybe I thought I was a certain type of adventurous person when really I'm just a homebody. L keeps talking about how excited she is for our real backpacking to begin, and as I nod my head along with her, I'm really just thinking that it's going to be noisy and hot and full of drunk teenagers. Oh another lovely part of being on antibiotics, no drinking for 10 days :S Lame.
So right now I guess I'm just questioning my decision to make this trip, because it's a whole lot less fun than I had expected and it really sucks not even being able to walk around for 2 hours without feeling exhausted and salty. Boo.
I miss my parents and my doggy though. If I could just snuggle up with my pup for one more night I'd probably be in a lot better mood than I am these days. I guess it also doesn't help that since I've been here I haven't slept a whole night through.

Get Ready

I'm tripping balls. Like SO nervous. I can't wait to get on that damn plane and have the crappy flight over with and be in Australia. But I'm also freaking out and want to stay in my bed under the covers forever. I hope I can bring my sandwich through customs :) It will be the last thing my mom makes me for a long ass time.
So last night after H and S left (we watched an awesome comic book movie called Kick-Ass) and I went in to my parents bedroom to try and wake up my mom and get her to hang out with me. She just rolled over, so I went to get my puppy to try and convince her to come sleep with my for my last night at home and she just snored at me. I guess it's a loneliness pre-view :(
God I can't believe I am actually flying away in 9 hours. The girls commented that I have left my room totally the same and am not taking many personal things. It's weird because my room is full of my stuff, like not just normally, but I have boxes in storage in the basement of old decorations, pictures, books and knick-knacks that don't "go" with my new wall colour .. (I repaint often). But as of right now the only personal items I brought for sentimentality and decoration is a stack of photographs of my friends and family. It's weird, part of me wants to clear out some space in my suitcase so I can bring my Tibetan prayer flags, my paintings, some incense and candles, and like 50 more books. Oh and movies, I have like 5 movies that I watch compulsively and also every season of Sex and The City, which I also watch all the time. Oh well, I guess it's time for me to learn how to live without a ton of my own shit.
Anyways, I can't beleive I slept so little, I hope I am tired enough to sleep on the plane from TO to the 'Couv, and then will pop some gravol on the way to Sydney .. hopefully that knocks me out for a good 14 hours or so.
AHHHH okay, I need to stop babbling now. And whoever reads this, someone needs to take care of KP for me.
I will miss painting my puppy's nails so much. She loves her paw-dicures, and we usually do matching nails. Awhh my poochie, I'm going to freak out without her.

The Long and Winding Road

Christmas was wonderful, New Years was great (but quite messy) and now I'm leaving. Tomorrow is my last full day in Ottawa, so today I figured I should pack all my shit and weigh my suitcases to make sure I'm under the limit. I'm actually quite proud of how light I'm packing. Except for my backpack, but the heaviest things in there are 4 bottles of sunscreen and my sleeping bag, which are both so very necessary. I'm in such an odd state, I don't know what to feel, I'm sad that I'm leaving but I'm excited to go, but not really that excited. Actually not excited at all. I don't think it will hit me until I wake up on the 4th and know I'm flying away from my whole entire life and everything I know.
I'm kind of winging it when I get to Australia, I'm flying alone, and I know that I suck at flying, I don't hate it but after a couple hours I get restless, then frustrated and then I get a migraine which eventually turns into a break down. I guess it will be interesting seeing how I cope with a claustrophobic melt down on an airplane, when I am all alone and have no one to complain to or cry on. But then I fly into Sydney in the afternoon, and am going to have to find my way to my hotel, where L and I will meet at some point during the day. Then we have to remember to go start up Aussie bank accounts, get Aussie cell phones (which I have actually already bought but will need to pick up) and also probably get groceries. Thank god we have a mini kitchen in our hotel room, so we'll save money not having to eat out at every meal. I'm guessing that I will spend 6 weeks carb-loading .. cereal, pasta and Mr. Noodles .. mostly because those are the only things I know how to cook, and for the most part I won't have a fridge.
Since L and I have no plans for 6 weeks (except for a couple cities that we want to visit, and activities we want to do such as learning to surf) we are totally just winging it. We have our hotel for 5 nights, which we will be sharing for a few nights with my old friend J from Manitoba. After we get kicked out of the hotel we are on the road with nothing but our backpacks! I want to hit Byron Bay, Surfer's Paradise, the Gold Coast, obviously the famous Great Barrier Reef, and I want to do a sailing trip in the Whitsunday's. L and I have been looking into doing holiday accommodations, so renting a house or apartment for a few weeks instead of hostelling, but it seems to be pretty difficult to find anywhere legit to stay, so I think I'm going to bank on hostels (and it will be way easier to meet people and party every night anyways) and then if we can save some cash and stay in a home or apartment for a week or two in between that would be wonderful too.
Anyways this outfit is what I'm planning to wear while wandering the streets of Sydney, green floral American Eagle dress (clothing swap), Minnetonka Moccasins ($75 Joneve), brown studded belt ($2 Ardene), green tye dye bag ($20 Old Navy).

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas day was awesome, the girst BK and I got KP and Daddy was a hit! Apparently they love Wii! And all my gifts were amazing, my big one was unlimited train and bus trips in Aussie on the Countrylink line. That'll make it so much easier to get around and see all the amazing sights down under, and also will save me a ton of money! Even if I did NO other traveling I would at least need to get from Sydney (airport) to Melbourne (school) and back .. and now my 6 weeks of pre-class travelling will be a million times easier! And also save me money cuz I can take overnight trains and busses and skip paying for a hotel room! Woohoo!
Anyways this is what I wore on Christmas day when my dad's side came over for dinner. Jacob jeans, grey Costa Blanca tank top with a white tank underneath, lilac and pearl necklace from Lisa (the Bay), pink oxford flats (Joneve), a studded belt that KP bought me (Aldo) and my studded earrings from Spring!

Deck the Halls

So Boyfriend bought me a tree for Christmas :) I was very sad because my parents ruined xmas by refusing to buy a lovely real tree, and instead have a fake plastic one, that is beautiful, but doesn't smell like Christmas! Ugh .. anyways, so he bought me a tree, and then bailed on a night at the bar watching football with the boys to paint 40 walnuts gold and hot glue ribbons to things .. But I let him have the football game on .. on mute .. so we could listen to Christmas music :) Ohhh poor J, he's such a good sport. Anyways it was lovely, we even made personalized photo ornaments (thankyou Martha Stewart.com!) It was the cutest night ever, and today, since I'm finished exams, we are doing Christmas shopping for his family and mine, probably wrapping gifts, and then making pizza and watching Christmas movies. Tomorrow morning when we wake up we are opening pressie's, having a big breakfast with Champagne and everything and probably wearing our pyjama's until like noon! Oh it'll be so great. Then I'm taking him to the train station and he is going home :( Boo, I'm so sad that he's leaving me, and then when he comes back I'll only see him a few times before I leave. This is getting hard, I made my first round of goodbye's with my TC crew last night and it sucked, I love my job and even more I love the amazing people I work with, G, B, L, M, C, Y and everyone else .. I'll miss you like crazyy <3

Finally on Holiday's!

I finally ripped the monstrous shoulder pads out of my vintage Giorgio Armani blazer ($12 at Value Village .. score!). They weighed like 2lbs each, I'm not kidding, and were bigger than my boobs .. well come to think of it that's not really saying much so nevermind. Anyways, it's much more fabulous now, I'm wearing it with a boring black top and boring blue jeans. Boring boring boring. But you know what's exciting? I just finished all of my exams and take-home exams and handed them in and am FREE. It's sooo awesome not to be stressing about school, now I can focus on getting myself all excited for my big trip .. which is in 12 days let me remind you. And also for Christmas with my man .. more on our xmas festivities in my next post though.
but for now, yess, Australia! Land of the surfers, koalas, beaches, and most deadly animals, snakes and spiders .. ew.

The Kinsey Scale

I've been going tanning .. like the severely cancerous kind .. I feel soooo horrible saying this but I can totally understand why people do it, it's therapeutic to just lie there in that warm bed with nothing to look at, nothing to do, just your own thoughts. I always feel super refreshed when I'm done, also a bit crispy though. I'm actually doing it because I leave for Australia in 19 days. HOLY BUDDHAPANTS .. nineteen mother trucking days! It's coming so soon.
I haven't been feeling very excited for my big trip, mostly because I've been really stressed with school and my relationship with my friends have been strained, it makes me nervous that I'm leaving. I know it's immature but I feel like when I come back there will be no room left for me anymore, or I'll be irrelevant. I have been just stressing and worrying about everything instead of getting all psyched up and trying on bikini's everyday. But last night I went to Georgetown Pub with T and G after work, it was nice, we had some drinks and chatted, and T got me really excited because he's been to Australia so he was telling me stories and tips of where to go and it just made me think about leaving in a way more positive light.
So now I'm excited, mostly. But still stoopidly stressed with school, can't wait until it's over. But the sucky part is that I won't get to see any of my friends right before I leave, the first day of school is the 3rd, I leave the 4th which is a Tuesday, no one is going to want to come out and get fucked and have drunken sobfests about missing each other. In fact I'll probably even go to the airport with just my family. Which is kind of sad, I'd like to group hug all my biddies at once and have a huge lovefest of a memory when I hop on that plain.
Anyways, here's my outfit de jour: Jacob jeans, bue and white striped oxford shirt (Value Village), DKNY grey cardi/blazer (KP's, from Winners), black patent skinny belt ($6 Joe Fresh), black American Eagle flats, brown leather Roots bag ($$$).

Palm Trees and Power Lines

I just found this awesome floral tank at Value Village and got KP to change the neckline (it was high necked .. looked kind of silly) and it is the softest fabric ever, the tag said it's rayon, whatever that it. But mmm so comfy :)
So I'm wearing my denim skinnies (Value Village), floral tank ($1.99 Value Village), grey long Costa Blanca cardigan (Value Village), brown leather woven belt, Seiko watch, silver bangles, silver spoon ring, wooden hoop earrings, black flats (American Eagle) and pink fringe purse (H&M).
And I can't stop listening to Sugarcult .. thanks to my man .. who is old and listens to this kind of early 2000's pop punk crap. But I love it and I love him. When I'm home I miss him all the time, we just have too much fun together all the time, even when there's nothing to do.

Teach me how to dougie

Teach me how to dougie by BrittanyAmanduhh featuring brass jewelry

Leaving work an hour early today! Yeahh :) Friday's are good times. Ugh, I want to cut my hair off, dye it platinum and get glasses.

Home Is Where Ever I'm With You

Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zero's .. great song, makes me wants to hitch hike and get dreads :)

Young Cardinals

Tonight was awesome, I worked a super short shift, then came home and made pizza's (even with homemade dough) with my mom and brother (Daddy is in the 'cun with his buddies on a golf vacay). We watched Eat, Pray Love, with Julia Roberts and it was great, obviously not comparable to the book but a pretty decent movie still. And now I'm painting my nails all marbled and paint splettery. they look way cooler in person and you can see all the little swirls and designs .. but here is a crappy webcam photo.